Do Tokyo Shock's wonders ever cease? This
release will, with good reason, put the firm on
the map for Japanese movie buffs as the premium
company to look to for quality releases, which
is even better considering how cheap their discs
retail for. In total, there is more than four
hours worth of content here to watch, not counting
the trailers, which is sprawled across this amazing
two disc set. Granted, at first, One Missed
Call might seem like an odd candidate for
the two disc treatment; however, Tokyo Shock appears
to have played their cards right, as the film
is being prepared to be remade in the US so the
firm's early accusation of One Missed Call
is likely to pay off while netting them some much
deserved attention in the process.

Anyway, this disc is not flawless, as the video
presentation does have its problems, but the audio
and, most certainly, the extras are so above and
beyond here that each is some of the best featured
in a Toho release, regardless of region.

Video:

Not a bad video transfer, but it does lack
in a couple of spots. The brightness level is
probably the most difficult area to gauge, although
one thing is for sure: it's set too low. How much
this effects the viewing experience will depend
on the set up, as on the monitor that I use to
conduct these reviews I found a good deal of the
movie hard to make out, in particular the very
dark sequences at the hospital. However, trying
the disc out on a couple of TVs, with the brightness
maxed, gave much better results, although that
still might be a cumbersome step to take for some
to view the movie. Case in point, if all one sees
in this shot
is pure black (without seeing the character on
the ceiling) then chances are their current monitor
will have trouble with some of the scenes. As
for the other aspects, they are done well enough,
although nothing really here to give high marks
to. The colors are an example of this, as they
lack a vibrant array but are still distinct, with
no signs of discoloring. In regards to digital
inconsistencies, there is a small hint of artifacting
and shimmering (a rainbow band of colors on small
details), but the darkness of the DVD makes this
aspect mostly unnoticeable. As for the shape of
the print used for the transfer: it's fairly good,
although there is a noticeable layer of grain
throughout the movie.

One Missed Call is presented in its
original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is Anamorphic
for widescreen TVs.

Audio:

Tokyo Shock has done a flawless job with the
audio presentation here, and the abundance in
the number of options is much appreciated. In
fact, there are four audio tracks in total on
this disc: a 5.1 Japanese surround track, a 5.1
English surround track, a 2.0 Japanese stereo
track, and a 2.0 English stereo track. So no matter
one's audio set up, or preference in watching
the movie in Japanese or dubbed, Tokyo Shock has
them covered. The speaker distinction on all of
the tracks is astounding as well, as screeching
glass and screams come through beautifully on
the four tracks, with a very eerie sense of realism
to them.

One Missed Call is accompanied by, removable,
English subtitles that have two settings: one
to translate text only (as a companion for the
dubbed track) and the other is a full translation
of everything.

Extras:

The gloves are off. If there was any reference
disc for how the supplemental content on Toho,
produced and distributed, releases in region 1
should be handled, Tokyo Shock's One Missed
Call would have to be that reference point.
In total, across this two disc set, there is 132
minutes of added content, which excludes counting
the wealth of trailers present (3 regular, 6 TV
spots and 8 trailers to other movies). To put
it simply, there is so much present here that
it's difficult to tackle, so I will try to run
it down, one at a time, very briefly.

First off, it should be mentioned that almost
all of the added content appears on the second
disc in the set, save the 11 trailers (the 6 TV
spots appear on the second disc). The best extra
here is, without question, the very lengthy "Making
of Documentary", which spans across an hour
with 9 chapter breaks. The feature itself is done
in Japanese, and includes toggle-able (i.e. can
be removed) English subtitles. The documentary
is very informative, as it follows the production
from its early conception from director Takashi
Miike to the wrap of the movie itself. There is
a run down of most of the sequences in the movie,
giving a general feel of what the cast was going
through and what the mood was like. It's a feature
that those, even with very little interest in
the movie, should probably watch as it's so well
done.

Next up is the cast and crew interviews, which
is 14 minutes long, in Japanese, with toggle-able
English subtitles. The feature is nice, although
most of the best parts of this were spliced into
the documentary with better results. There are
a total of four people interviewed here: Kou Shibasaki
(who plays Yumi Nakamura), Shinichi Tsutsumi (who
plays Hiroshi Yamashita), Kazue Fukiishi (who
plays Natsumi Konishi), and Takashi Miike (director).

Following that is an "Alternate Ending"
for the movie, which totals 4 minutes (in Japanese,
of course) and features removable English subtitles.
It's hard not to spoil it, although the site itself
hardly refrains from doing so with most of the
content, so I will just say it's a joke ending
to the movie which is pretty amusing.

After that is a 20 minute interview with director
Miike, which was conducted by Tokyo Shock so that
alone makes this the definitive version of the
movie to own in any region. The interview is done
in Japanese with English subtitles that can't
be removed, they have been burned onto the footage.
The interview itself is very informative, and
in particular interest should be where Miike explains
the ending of the movie for those who didn't quite
understand what the director was trying to portray
(I would fall into that category the first time
I watched it).

Rounding out the disc is three more features,
which aren't the most interesting but still nice
to look at. The first is a sequence of the movie
being shown at various events, such as the Tokyo
International Film Festival, and the interviews
which followed. The feature is 14 minutes in length
and is in Japanese, with toggle-able English subtitles.
The second feature is "A Day with the Mizunuma
Family", which is 2 minutes with no English
subtitles. The feature is very boring, as it's
an uncut look at one of the flashback sequences
before it was edited, but the short run time helps
one watch through. Last up is a TV Show Special,
which, like the previous extra, is an uncut look
at a 21 minute show that was later edited down
with small segments shown during the movie itself.
The show is in Japanese, with toggle-able English
subtitles, and is fairly boring as well, but it's
interesting to see that the whole show was constructed
for the use of One Missed Call.

Overview:

Bottom line, Tokyo Shock has another winner
on their hands. The video presentation may not
be perfect, but the other aspects are so extraordinary
on this release that they compensate nicely, especially
given that the retail price is, more or less,
average with most other DVDs.